The Silence of Zegandaria by Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov (book recommendations website txt) 📕

The commander was still here, giving his orders-convinced that somewhere out there, someone or something was working in his favour, or perhaps he was mistaken.

When he got the heomone pump, his first idea was to just sell it - that wasn't such a bad idea, but then again, you never knew.

A little later, a far more cunning idea occurred to him. He'd been spending his time here on Cerberus in solitude anyway - artificially socialized due to the nature of his duties, trying to find his place among humans.

Deciding to use his ears and eyes, and especially after the incident with Von Blask, which he never found out Rento was the cause of his fatal end, Brutus decided to prepare some of his own things and manage to get himself settled on Haumea - at least for a while. He was aware that sooner or later the Earth Federation was going to catch up with him, and then they were really going to hold him accountable for the backbreaking list of shenanigans he'd committed over the years.

But how many would have guessed that McDougle Enbright had made all those rounds over the years for a purpose. Commander Brutus was, in fact, his own clone - only the cloning was done in a cartoonish manner that could not be detected. Ordinary cloning methods were meticulously described in the Earth Federation's electronic files, but Brutus, or Enbright, or whatever his true identity was, had transplanted his consciousness into Brutus' body. And this knowledge had not come about without the knowledge of Doctor Gad 'D Ann. Just how had the puzzle come together so strangely? The Doctor had long since died. His consciousness had not been preserved nor transplanted. Yes, it was true he had left the planet in a rather unusual manner, but so what?

He had left with the following words:

- Don't rush out of your body shell without time - do it at the right time and in the right way. And in the end the demons will be buried forever. And they will never return. At least not in this lifetime!

That's what he said to himself on his exile to the planet Nanjagar, where his soul was in torment over the wrong decisions he had made.

The medic's suffering was indescribable, but even though he was more evil than the devil, he had taken some measures to deal with the whole mess he had made on his own, but not without Om Gur Nal's tacit consent.

The Doctor had tried to challenge the Almighty with cybernetic immortality, a figment of his scientific thought, and what had happened in the end. If it hadn't been for a few loyal friends and his hidden secret funds on planets like Ufur Gan - yes, that was the secret destination of the transfer, but Om Gur Nal had lived to see it. To find out that Gad ‘Di Enn hadn't been playing the Almighty, because at the time he really had been.

After he went to his distant exile on the planet Nanjagar, he realized very clearly what had just happened. Ertol Gis had gotten her way by staying in the shadows, and none of the populations from the other planets had rebelled against her simply because they had nothing to hold onto.

The power of the Secret Crime Syndicate that operated on Kikluk Sor was perhaps still being used by ERTOL GIS - they were determined to go further than even the Korolan Bru themselves. That was all, and he knew it. It had not been easy to shed his skin, nor to be deprived of the beautiful skies of Zegandaria, though most had long ago said they had had enough of him.

- Only those who had deprived themselves of the light realized what the darkness actually realized, he had hit himself over the head with his hands when it was hardest to deal with his forced self-imposed isolation.

CHAPTER FORTY: THE PLANET NANJAGAR

The one place Ertol Gis wouldn't look for Doctor Gad ‘Di Enn was Nanjagar, of all places.

This place wasn't a smuggler's planet, or a hangout for mad scientist psychopaths, or bankers, or financiers, and it wasn't a tourist destination like the planet Osonia.

No one had ever made a space colony there, nor had they ever tried to explore it for explainable reasons. It was a dead world - deader than Haumea and Charon combined.

As the Doctor headed there, he realized that this place was worthy of punishment for his transgressions. He was escorted by the forces of Osonia and Sebur Nag, more specifically by associates of the now-departed former Om Gur Nal. Still, the doctor had retained some influence.

Somewhere far ahead, or perhaps not so far away, Doctor Gad ‘Di Enn saw his foretold end. After all, he had done his job, or at least had tried to.

How many times had he wondered where the old days remained, when complete control of the planet Zegandaria, guaranteed some kind of order that was to his liking. An order built by his fingers. Like a well-oiled machine.

The idea of immortality wasn't new, and the Ertol Gis and Korolan Bru companies were trying all sorts of methods to achieve it, Korolan Bru emphasizing advanced cloning methods and Ertol Gis wanting a controlled cybernetic consciousness that could be transplanted onto the appropriate host at an early age.

According to Gad ‘Di Enn, sooner or later they would clash their interests despite the distance of the two planets.

Gad ‘Di Enn knew that his exile would not last forever, but only until he was claimed. And the one who was resourceful enough to carry that out was the infamous Commander Brutus. Of course, he did this on his own head.

But how did Brutus get this information? Well, it was through Von Blask, whom he messed with shortly before he died.

The planet Nanjagar was a peculiar and inhospitable place.

Its whitish-blue surface was covered with various silicate rocks that gave a romantic look to this otherwise dead place, and deep in its bowels were rich deposits of phosphorus[1].

The Earth was increasingly in need of being able to sustainably feed its population - this was one of the main issues at hand. These phosphorus deposits were attractive, but its vast distance from Earth would make it difficult to reach and eventually exploit.

Space crops needed the relevant nutrients to survive and this was more than welcome.

Given that the planet was also of quite similar characteristics to those of their home, that in itself was welcome.

Furthermore, the planet could make an excellent military research testing ground for the entire Earth Federation, its scale even exceeding that of its already existing colonies on the Moon, Mars and Cerberus, even combined for its extensive plans for the subjugation of Haumea to prevent possible attacks from the Ervanans.

Korolan Bru set about harnessing a huge portion of its resources - almost a trillion Earth Ents went to the preparation of the new Earth Hope ship alone, developed using technology provided by the Doctor. However, it was built in a very interesting way.

As they examined the electronic blueprints, the Earth scientists also sensed the fundamental differences between their ships' engines and their alien equivalent.

As we know, Zegandaria's best ship designs were tachyon class three engines. And they could cope with that "inconvenience" that was fraying the nerves of Earth scientists, namely overcoming superluminal velocity.

In general, the energy of tachyons corresponded to the energy of thought, since these immanent particles possessed as a lower limit the speed of light, and as the energy of this particle decreased, its speed increased.

They realized the profound understanding of the Superstring Theory[2] by these people as advanced as we were.

As it was known that growing crops without this mineral miracle was unthinkable. It was for this reason that Doctor Gad 'D Ann suggested to the Earth government that they use some of the ships stationed on Kikluk Sor and the conditions on this planet to develop space farming much further out than the Kuiper Belt.

This proposal was enticing enough to intrigue many.

The eminent scientist had been able to visit Earth only once incognito at the invitation of serious Korolan Bru representatives, and there he had revealed to them some essential secrets about the planet of Nanjagar and its natural resources, and also some secrets about the cybernetic consciousness with which they could better control the clones.

Ertol Gis had managed to stop this unexpected leak of information, however, and the Earthlings had only gotten the exact coordinates of the planet and blueprints for the tachyon engines, which was still plenty.

After showing them the gorgeous mineral deposits and giving them some advanced technology for Zegandarian tachyon engine models, they were ready to go there and carry out their grand plans. But the clones were going to be a problem. Korolan Bru wanted this transition to expanding the frontiers of human civilization to be gradual and careful, and this huge step would upset the balance.

Korolan Bru, lacking any morals, decided to use the doctor's valuable knowledge and skills to his advantage - he was elderly and might die soon. Therefore, the doctor's developments were classified, and no one ever knew that the exchange of experience had been conducted in a particular way.

When he really saw what it was all about, Hermonal Bivors simply exclaimed:

- Really, what's the difference between clones and mind control like this? After all, we work for the good of the entire human population!

Such hypocrisy in his words could not be overlooked, but then it made no impression on the Earth Federation senators, who were certainly no specialists in biochemistry and neuroscience. The quality of subjective reality had to be managed and directed in the interests of Earth's interests, as the clones might be subject to some re-education or their evolution of feelings might take off in an unknown direction. They already had the example of GH306.

[1] The element phosphorus occurs in two main forms, and is extremely rare on Earth in its free state.

[2] Superstring theory aims to provide an explanation of all particles and fundamental forces in nature through a theory that models them as the vibrations of microscopic supersymmetric strings. It is considered to be one of the best candidate theories in the field of quantum gravity.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE: THE DISCOVERY

Having come to the